Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Ike struck.

His blade flashed upward. A fierce wall of sword energy flew out. All the power he'd gathered surged, pouring into that one strike. It raced toward the spear and cut into its shaft.

The giant pine split in two. It flew upward, both pieces falling apart from one another. The halves were still bound into the spearhead, but loosely, and now the whole contraption was off-target. It hared off to the right and slammed down into the forest, totally missing the castle.

Ike panted, exhausted. He wiped his brow and breathed deeply, gathering what aether he could. He reached into his storage ring and pulled out a mana potion he'd taken from Shopkeep's treasury, quickly tossing it back. The potion swirled into his core, and he circulated his aether to fully absorb the energy.

Across from him, the pig giant squealed in anger. Her nose wrinkled. She pawed the earth, throwing up earth, boulders, and trees behind her. Reaching down, she hauled up another pine and hauled back, preparing to heft it at Ike.

Ike darted to the side. She followed him, tracking his position. He quietly sighed in relief. She's too enraged to care about the castle anymore. As long as she fires it at me, I win.

He readied his new defensive skill. He didn't pour aether into it yet, but held back, on the verge of adding aether. At the same time, he charged, racing toward the pigwoman.

"Die!" The pigwoman threw the tree at him, pointy-end first. The tree wobbled as it flew, comical but no less deadly for looking silly. It whistled toward Ike. Its shadow fell over him.

Ike threw himself to the side. The tree-spear buried itself in the earth, missing him entirely. He ran on, closing the distance.

Whew. Didn't have to use that new skill yet.

Seeing him dodge, the pigwoman squealed in rage. One after another, she uprooted the trees around her and sent them hurtling toward him. The huge spears were intimidating, but, well, huge. Obvious. With the pigwoman focusing Ike and not the castle, all he had to do was run a serpentine pattern to the left of the castle. It was trivial to dodge the giant spears at his speed. He quickly closed in on the giant pig, as she threw a line of pines into the earth behind him.

Behind the pigwoman, a bulbous, dark form climbed to the top of the trees. Spindly legs gripped the tree tops, and eight shiny eyes stared at Ike, waiting for the signal.

Ike was so close to the pigwoman that he could smell the shit on her hooves. She loomed over him, huge as a mountain. Uprooting yet another tree, she lifted it in both hands to drive it down at Ike. The dark base of the tree hurtled down at Ike. "You won't get away this time, little rat."

"Wisp, now!" Ike threw himself to the side. The tree smashed down, throwing earth everywhere. Dust clouded Ike's vision. He couldn't see anything.

"What the—ow!" The pigwoman yelped, and then there was a slapping noise. Wisp giggled. The pigwoman yelped again and again, and the slapping kept sounding.

Ike stumbled backward, trying to get out of the dust. It sounds like Wisp has everything under control, but—

A giant hoof hurtled toward him out of the dust. There was no time to dodge. Ike's eyes widened. He pushed his aether into the defensive skill reflexively.

His body went soft. That sensation of intense relaxation and laziness flowed over him. The hoof struck, but he barely felt it. He flew back and rolled over the forest floor, flopping and wobbling the whole way. His skin accumulated a few cuts and scrapes, but that was all. No bruises or broken bones, no serious injuries. Just a wobbly tumble and a scratch or two.

Ike laid there for a moment, wrapped up in the indolence of the skill. His body was awkwardly draped across the roots of two trees, but any position felt good in his current state. I don't want to move. It feels so good, just lying here…

Wisp shouted in fear and anger. The pigwoman laughed triumphantly. Ike jolted, pulled back to reality. He cancelled the skill and jumped to his feet. Activating Storm Clad, he knelt, then leaped. He blasted out of the dust cloud and up toward the pigwoman.

Chubby legs shot by. He landed on the pigwman's rolls of fat. She had both arms over her head, grappling with something behind her, but as he landed, she released it and went to slap him. Wisp laughed triumphantly, and the sound of ripping and tearing flesh came from the pigwoman's back.

Ike waited, crouching slightly on the pigwoman's fat. Her hands hurtled toward him. At the very last second, he jumped to the side, landing before her hands struck. The slap rebounded through her fat, and just like the bloated centipede from earlier, Ike was blasted into the sky. He drew back his sword and unleashed a slash at her neck as he hurtled past.

His blades cut through her double chins like a hot knife through butter, but they simply weren't long enough. Even cutting a swathe of fat off her neck, he still failed to hit anything vital. Ike flew past her neck and dropped down toward her shoulder. He frowned, brows furrowing. Her fat was a problem. If his blades couldn't reach to the far side of that thick armor, he'd be in trouble.

Even as he thought, the pigwoman howled in rage. She shook herself vigorously. Ike leaped off. On her back, Wisp jumped free as well. The two of them landed next to each other.

"How'd it go?" Ike asked Wisp.

Returning to human form, Wisp shrugged. "I bit her a bunch of times, but I was only injecting my poison into fat. It should reach her bloodstream… eventually. Probably."

"I had the same problem. My swords aren't long enough," Ike confided.

Wisp twisted her lips. "If we can't reach past her fat, what's our move?"

Ike glanced up. Storm clouds were already gathering overhead. He grinned. "If we stall for a while, I should be able to call down lightning."

"You think that's enough to take her out?" Wisp asked skeptically.

"If nothing else, it should stun her. Give us a shot to hit something vulnerable. Her eyes, for example," Ike pointed out.

Wisp nodded. "I distract her while you charge the old lightning strike?"

"It'd be a big help. Though it's not like I'm useless while I'm charging it, either. I'll be right there next to you, harrying her, too."

"Talking to each other, little rats? Whispering in one another's ears?" the pigwoman growled. She slapped toward them, her palm blocking out the sun.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You got it, bossman." Wisp leaped into the trees.

Ike jumped off in the other direction. The pigwoman's palm slammed down on an empty patch of grass. She roared in fury and whirled, staring after Ike, then Wisp. After a moment, she turned to face Ike and chased after him.

Ike glanced over his shoulder. He laughed. "Oink oink, piggy!"

"How dare you call me Piggy! Only my darling piglets are allowed to call me that!" the pigwoman snarled.

Reaching into his storage ring, Ike yanked out a knife and pushed lightning into it. He hurtled the storm-clad knife at the pigwoman. Spitting lightning, it flew through the sky and stuck in her ankle.

The pigwoman snorted. Shaking her leg, she shook the blade free. "Is that meant to hurt? Sting me again, mosquito!"

"The only bloodsucker around here is me!" Wisp shouted, hopping onto the pigwoman's shoulder. She bit, then jumped away before the pigwoman could slap her.

"You suck blood?" Ike shouted, surprised and concerned all at once.

"And everything else, once my poison turns it to people soup," Wisp replied. She darted away, vanishing into the forest again.

"Guess that makes sense," Ike muttered. He started to grab a knife out of his storage ring, then hesitated. Did it need to be a knife? It wasn't like his knives were injuring the pigwoman. Any old bit of scrap would do, as long as he could wrap it in a storm. In fact, it didn't even have to be loot. He glanced down, at the forest floor around him. It could be anything. Anything…

"Wisp! I have an idea…"